Quadcopter
Page 5

Axis Drones has a number of successful quadcopters in its product lineup, and its latest, the Aerius, is touted as their smallest one yet. We get some hands-on and air time with this wee little wonder.

Yep, it's another prosumer quadcopter – ProDrone's Byrd. So, what's so special about this one? Well, among other things, it combines folding propeller arms with swappable camera gimbals and a 29-minute flight time.

Children of the 1970s may recall Kenner's Smash-Up Derby set, in which two toy cars flew into pieces when they crashed into each other – the neat thing was, they could then just be snapped back together. Well, Vantage Robotics' Snap is sort of like the Smash-Up Derby of drones.

Last month, DJI released the Phantom 3 Standard, which slotted in below the Phantom 3 Advanced and Phantom 3 Professional in the company's lineup. At the time, DJI promised compatibility with a series of intelligent flight modes would be forthcoming and the company has now delivered on that promise.

Last month, Sony Mobile announced a joint drone venture with Japanese robotics company ZMP. The first images and videos of the Aerosense quadcopter, fitted with Sony's QX30 lens/camera module, and VTOL UAV prototypes have been released.

We put Parrot's Bebop drone in the hands of several quadcopter neophytes, tested it indoors (which is supposedly one of its strengths), and enlisted its 14-megapixel camera to capture some aerial footage.

Swiss Post and Swiss World Cargo recently announced that they have teamed up with California-based Matternet to trial several of its Matternet ONE cargo quadcopters. Tests will take place throughout this month.